Part 41 (2/2)
”Of course I don't mind. I'm glad.”
”Good.”
Jack Delaney wasn't going to give her any more information. Nor was he going to wink in a conspiratorial manner and tell her he was well armed with stakes and holy water.
”I guess I'll go back to my family, since Rick seems to be in good hands.”
He waved good-bye to her. She started down the hall and turned back. Jack was already engrossed in his newspaper.
When Jade reached her stepmother's room, she found Sean and her sister waiting, but Lucian had left the hospital. His exits were becoming very annoying. Downright irritating.
”He had some things to attend to,” Sean told her. ”Maggie wants to meet you. I've asked your sister already. I hope you'll come to my house for something to eat and a few hours of rest.''
Jade looked at her sister. Shanna looked perfectly comfortable with the arrangements.
”I don't know,” she said, wondering why she felt so argumentative.
”Dad, what about the boys? I have baby brothers, you know.”
”They're fine for the afternoon, Jade,” her father said. ”Why don't you get some lunch, some rest. We may need you and your sister in the days to come.”
”Sure, then. I'm just dying to meet your wife, Lieutenant Canady.”
”We'll be back then,” Sean promised her father and stepmother. As they left the room, Jade saw that there was a very tall, exceptionally good-looking black man outside the room. He was wearing shades, casual clothing, and carrying a book. Sean introduced him briefly as Mike Astin. ”My stepmother needs a guard?” Jade demanded as they left the hospital.
It was all just too strange. When they had returned to her place that morning, both Canady and her sister had been frantic. Her father had been leaving messages, and she was gone. Canady looked really ragged-trying to figure out how she had gotten past him.
She had tried to explain it. ”I guess I was sleepwalking. Having bizarre dreams.” Canady knew Lucian, and wasn't at all surprised that he had brought her home-carried her home, her white nightgown draping dramatically over his arms as he entered the apartment with her. Shanna, who had been ready to dislike him on sight, made an amazing turnabout, introducing herself, watching him, querying him, and appearing generally fascinated by him. All too strange, Jade thought again as Canady drove them toward his house on the outskirts of the city.
”How do you know Lucian DeVeau?” Jade demanded as they drove.
His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. Then they touched the road again.
”He's an old friend of my wife,” he said.
Shanna leaned forward. ”Did they date?” she inquired.
”Shanna,” Jade remonstrated.
”Not exactly,” Sean said, and the way he said it, the case was simply closed.
Sean Canady lived with his wife in a stunning grande dame of a plantation. Exiting the car, Jade wished she'd met the Canadys at a different stage of her life. The place was terrific. She could have taken rolls of pictures, and written a history on the architecture and the owners through time. It was beautiful, and restored rather than refurbished. Walking up the steps, she couldn't help but move slowly and admire the old-fas.h.i.+oned elegance of the house, an elegance that belonged to a time long past.
At her side, Shanna whistled softly.
”Hey, we grew up in a very decent home in the Garden District,”
Jade reminded her sister in a whisper.
Shanna elbowed her. ”Shush. Whispering is rude.”
”So is gawking!” Jade admonished her.
They had barely climbed the steps to the front door when it opened for them.
A woman stood there with a toddler in her arms. She looked as though she belonged in Vogue. She was tall, elegant, and wearing a casual at-home outfit that might have been on a Paris runway.
The baby was unmistakably Sean's. He had curious blue eyes and a cap of curly dark hair.
”So my husband managed to lure you out here!” she called. Great voice. Soft, low, s.e.xy. Jade smiled. ”How do you do,” she said. ”Thank you for the invitation.” Had it been an invitation, or a summons?
”Thank you for coming,” she said, smiling. ”And you're Jade, and you're Shanna,” she said, naming them correctly.
”Right,” Jade said. ”And this is .. . ?” She indicated the baby.
Maggie's eyes were luminous as she gazed at the toddler in her arms. ”This is Brent. Mr. Brent Canady.”
”How do you do, Mr. Brent Canady,” Jade said, reaching out to the baby. He was at that age when he might have turned away, pressed his face to his mother's arm, but he studied Jade and let her take his hand and shake it. He let out a little laugh and gazed at his mother with pleasure.
”He's adorable,” Shanna said.
”Thanks. We think so,” Maggie said huskily.
Sean came behind them, meeting her eyes strangely at first, then greeting her with a kiss. They seemed to have said a million things with a simple look. That, Jade thought, was what life was all about.
”Late lunch is nearly on, or early dinner, whichever,” Maggie Canady told her husband. ”Please come on in.”
The house was even more wonderful inside. A grand staircase rose from either side of the foyer to meet at a halfway landing, then split again to rise to a second level. Arches and molding adorned walls and doorways. The house was both elegant and lived-in.
It also had a strange ...
Odor.
When they reached the kitchen, Jade realized that there were large gloves of garlic hung around the windows. When Maggie moved through the kitchen to set the baby down in his play area, she saw that the French doors there also seemed to be surrounded by vines.
Not vines. Garlic.
There were a number of wooden sticks or poles leaning against the door as well. Jade tried to inspect them without appearing to do so.
They looked as if they should have been attached to brooms or mops.
They were sharpened at one end.
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